Three men were killed and a dozen people were wounded in shootings across Chicago from Wednesday afternoon through this morning as the long Fourth of July weekend began.

Five of the victims were shot in two attacks in the Austin police district on the West Side, the smallest district in the city. The other shootings occurred in the West Woodlawn, South Shore, Gresham, Fernwood and Rosemoor neighborhoods on the South Side and the West Garfield Park and Lawndale neighborhoods on the West Side.

• In Austin, three people were shot as they stood outside on Leclaire Avenue north of Madison Street around 2:20 a.m. today.

A 29-year-old man was shot in the right ankle and a 25-year-old woman was grazed in the arm. Both of them were taken to West Suburban Medical Center. A 25-year-old woman was shot in the neck and buttocks and was taken to Stroger Hospital.

• Just after 3 a.m., two other people were shot in the 1100 block of South Mason Avenue, half a block north of Cicero and half a block east of Oak Park in a neighborhood known as the Island. A 27-year-old man was shot in the head and a 28-year-old man was wounded in the leg. Both were taken to Loyola University Medical Center, the younger man in serious condition.

• In the West Woodlawn neighborhood, three men were shot around 7:25 p.m. Wednesday in the 6600 block of South Champlain Avenue, one of them fatally, according to Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien, citing preliminary information.

Ernest McMullen, 26, of the 800 block of East 46th Street, was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center at 7:38 p.m. authorities said. The two other men, 18 and 19, were shot in the shoulder and were stable at the hospital, O’Brien said.

• Earlier in the South Shore neighborhood, a 24-year-old man was shot in the back and critically wounded around 6:50 p.m. in the 2400 block of East 79th Street, according to O'Brien.

Police said someone fired at him after getting out of a green car. The victim ran around the corner into the 7900 block of South Phillips Avenue and collapsed, police said.

The man, identified as Rayford Brown, of the 2400 block of East 77th Street, was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 7:26 p.m., according to the medical examiner's office. No arrests have been made, said O'Brien.

• In another fatal shooting, someone shot a man as he sat in a vehicle in the 8700 block of South Loomis Street at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to Police News Affairs Officer Michael Sullivan. William Jones, 26, of the 7800 block of South Emerald Avenue, was pronounced dead on the scene at 1:31 p.m., according to the medical examiner's office.

• Earlier, a 20-year-old man was shot in the head in the 500 block of West 104th Street on the Far South Side about 3 p.m., O’Brien said.

He was was taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, O’Brien said. No arrests have been made in the shooting.

• In the 1600 block of South Komensky Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood, a 19-year-old man was shot in the lower back and an 18-year-old man was shot in the foot around 2:10 p.m., O’Brien said.

Both were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where the older man was in serious condition and his companion’s condition had stabilized, according to O'Brien.

• About 9:50 p.m., a 24-year-old man was shot in the 100 block of South Kostner Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. He was dropped off at Loretto Hospital, where he was listed as stable with a gunshot wound to the back.

• Just after midnight, a 19-year-old man was shot in the 10100 block of South Indiana Avenue in the Rosemoor neighborhood. Someone got out of a car and fired, then got back inside and took off, police said. The victim was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center with a chest wound.